First, let’s say what this crisis isn’t about: It’s not about the number of lobsters in the bay or on which days they may be caught. Nor is it simply about racism, though all these are undercurrents to the standoff in Nova Scotia.
The central issue is whether Ottawa’s approach to reconciliation will result in proper management of the fishery. The Sipekne’katik First Nation is emerging as a testcase for a particularly robust form of self-government, and the implications could be far-reaching.
Many Indigenous communities have or claim rights to use resources that are shared with non-Indigenous communities, including rights to hunt, cut trees, and harvest other natural resources. Non-Indigenous stakeholders will want to know how far this kind of self-government reaches into their shared resource and when the federal government will intervene to limit it.
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